And the Nightmare Trap
by Master-Magician
Summary: The mind can only take so much before it breaks. The librarians and their guardian must face off against some of their worst fears, but can they survive with their sanity intact?
1. Baird and Cassandra

**Seeing as how my two current Librarians stories don't seem to be going over so well, I figured I'd try something else. Maybe it's the way the others are being written that's the reason, or the Librarians fanfiction archive is in a rut.**

 **Anyway, this little idea popped into my head when I was trying to sleep last night. And I must warn you, it will be dark. Hopefully T is rated high enough. There will be a happy ending, but first they must suffer.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

"Ow, son of a…"

"Baird? That you?"

"Stone?"

"Yeah." Jake groaned as he sat up, or at least tried to. He didn't really feel like he was on solid ground, it more felt like he was… "Are we floatin'?"

"Yup, pretty sure mate."

"Jones?" Jake called out into the dark. "Where are you? I can't see squat."

Jake suddenly felt a foot kick him in the side, just before a hand grabbed onto his shirt. A moment later, Cassandra's voice reached his ears. "Sorry, Jake."

"It's fine." Jake reassured her. Going by the feel of her hand, Jake maneuvered them so that they were linked arm in arm. Last thing they needed was to float away from each other. "I got Cassie, where's everyone else?"

Baird again yelled in pain, just before Jones voice sounded. "Found Baird."

"Anybody got a flashlight or somethin'?" Jake asked.

"Hold up." Jake felt Cassandra moving before a small light appeared in her hand. The cell phone flashlight lit the both of them up, but not much more. They were not in impenetrable darkness, but were still floating around in a dark room. How the hell did they get here anyway?

"Hey, I see you guys." Baird spoke from nearby.

Cassandra squealed in alarm when Jake felt something grab hold of the redhead.

"Hey, hey." Baird said. "It's just me."

"Oh. Sorry." Cassandra mumbled meekly taking hold of their guardian much like she did Jake. Her makeshift flashlight lit up both her and Jake, but barely shinned on Baird. Jones was still completely shrouded in the inky blackness.

"Anybody know where the bloody hell we are?" Jones queried from the other side of Cassandra.

There were three variations of 'I don't know' from the two librarians and guardian.

"Okay… what's the last thing anyone remembers?" Jake asked next.

"I was about to swipe that idol thingy." Jones explained. "Actually…" A sound like jingling keys came from his voices direction. "Yup, got it right here."

"Great… you know what this means right?" Baird sighed.

"That I set off some kind of ancient boobytrap?"

"Exactly, Jones."

Almost everyone groaned at that.

"I hate traps!" Jake growled.

"Agreed." Baird sighed again.

"At least no mummies this time." Cassandra, as always, tried to find a silver lining.

"Hey! How was I supposed to know some ancient jerk decided to sucker-punch us?" Jones attempted to defend himself.

"Well hopefully we didn't get shoved into another dimension, again." Baird fumbled with her own pockets in the dim light before producing her own phone. "Maybe if we still have service I can call Jenkins."

"Yeah good luck with that." Jake scoffed. Knowing their luck, they were in some fancy parallel dimension far away from any and all…

"Hey quick question Jenkins."

Jake had to do a double take. "You actually have signal? What the hell?"

"Uhh… okay what is that supposed to be?" Baird spoke into the receiver. "Hello? Hello, Jenkins? Crap."

"What happened?" Cassandra did a poor job of hiding her worry.

"Lost the signal." Baird answered. "Let me try again…"

Baird never got the chance to. Just as the guardian redialed the number, it was like the nonexistent floor was yanked out from under them. Out of nowhere, they suddenly felt the rush of air that accompanied a swift drop.

Cassandra was so startled, she both let out a horrified scream and lost her grip on Baird. As a substitute, she latched onto Jake with both arms and clung to him like a life preserver. Jake wasn't sure if he was yelling too or not. Jones definitely was, his and Cassandra's screams drowned out whatever noises Baird or Jake might have made.

Still unable to see, Jake had no idea where or why they were falling. But at the rate they were going, any sudden stop was going to be fatal. He couldn't even shift himself to try and break Cassandra's fall, he didn't even know which way was down!

* * *

As quickly as their descent had started, it stopped. Baird felt herself smack straight into a wooden floor, at least if felt like wood from what she could tell. Oddly enough, they were falling for a bit, they should have been turned to paste on impact. Instead, it felt more like a fall from a countertop.

"Damn magic traps. Hey Jones, you…" Baird's voice trailed off when she realized the thief in question was no longer with her. There was no way she could have lost him on the way down, she had a vice-like grip on his arm. Not only was Jones gone, Stone and Cassandra were missing too. Knowing the two of them, they would have had their own death grip on each other.

Rising to her knees, Baird found herself back in the annex. But she knew better. If adventuring alongside Flynn and the librarians had taught her anything, it was that magic traps loved to conjure an image of a safe place as a way to get under your skin. Baird's apartment, the annex, even the Library itself, all of these were fair game.

Okay, what information did she have? Before the line was severed, Jenkins managed to warn Baird that their predicament sounded a lot like something called a Nightmare Trap. Unfortunately, she'd lost the caretaker before he could elaborate on what that was. The name alone didn't exactly inspire feelings of sunshine and rainbows.

"Cassie? Stone?" Baird yelled to the annex, her voice echoing among the old walls.

Rising to her feet, Baird was about to try again when she just what state the room was in. Books and assorted items were scattered every which way. Tables were turned over or just plain turned to splinters. It definitely looked like a fight had torn through the place, and a big one at that.

It took a moment for it to register that spread all over were her librarians.

Jones was the closest, so Baird rushed to his side first. The younger librarian was on the floor, laying on his side facing the main table. The guardian's first action was to roll him over onto his back. He seemed to be out cold, but on reflex Baird brought her fingers to his neck to check for a pulse.

There was nothing.

"Jones! Come on wake up, we can nap later." Baird scolded as she shook him. All of her years of training told her no pulse meant gone, but Baird couldn't bring herself to accept that. "Ezekiel! Get up or I'm making you clean the whole annex top to bottom. No squirming away this time!"

No response.

Forcing her panic down, Baird moved to the next librarian. Cassandra was on her back upon their table, her legs hanging off the edge. Unlike Jones, Cassandra's eyes were wide open, her features etched with a look of pure terror. As if it could get any worse, a knife protruded from the center of her chest, blood having stained her clothes a darker shade than her hair. How Baird had missed the knife she didn't know. Baird knew there was no point in checking for a pulse there.

"STONE!" Baird found herself screaming at the top of her lungs, breathing becoming near impossible. Her heart racing so fast it could explode any moment.

A frantic search for the missing third of their ground led Baird to the entrance of the room. The doors were smashed in, leaving glass shards everywhere. Standing in the middle of the doorway was one Jacob Stone. Baird had seen some severe beatings in her time, but none of that held a candle to this. Fresh blood drenched his face and clothes, his arm and leg were twisted at wrong angles, and his face itself was almost unrecognizable. Clutched in his hand was the sword he always used as a go-to weapon when something threatened the annex. Even the weapon was covered in blood.

"Jenkins! Where are you?" Baird yelled into the silence. If the annex had been attacked, Jenkins would have been here. The caretaker was always here, he lived in the damn place!

"No… no no no no no." Baird could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate. They couldn't be dead! They couldn't!

Baird rushed to each, checking again and again for any sign of life. No pulse, no breath, nothing but cold stillness. The guardian could feel her sanity crack with each attempt.

The tears were coming now, and there was not a thing Baird could do to stop them.

"I'm sorry." Baird choked back a sob as she found herself standing over the unmoving body of Cassandra. There was nothing Baird could do but close the younger woman's glassed over eyes.

"Oh, there you are." The voice made Baird's head snap up.

Sitting at her desk was Flynn, completely intact and uninjured.

"Oh, Flynn thank god." Baird dashed over to the senior librarian to throw her arms around him. At least one of them was alright. It didn't make her feel any better, but it was something.

Flynn was oddly stiff in Baird's arms, he didn't even return her embrace. His gaze stared past her at the three fallen librarians. "How could you Eve?"

"What?" Baird pulled away flabbergasted.

"You were supposed to protect them." Flynn's words were like knives piercing Baird's heart. "Some guardian you are."

"Flynn, what are you…"

"You let them die, Eve." Flynn eyes turned onto Baird, she already felt herself withering beneath that look. "You let them die."

"No! No I didn't…" Baird tried to defend herself, but she couldn't deny him. She should have been here, maybe she could have saved them…

"They looked up to you, Eve. Not just as a guardian." Flynn snapped as he sat up from his perch. "You were the closest thing Cassandra ever had to a mother who cared, just like Ezekiel. And Stone believed in you to look after everyone else when he couldn't."

"Flynn…" Baird choked on the word, unable to say more.

"They died screaming for you." Flynn snarled as he took a step closer to Baird, his eyes burning with hatred. "Even as Stone held his ground screaming for the others to run, they just knew you would come for them. But you didn't."

"Stop, Flynn…"

"Even as Cassie was pinned to the table and stabbed again and again." Flynn advanced on Baird until her back was pressed against the nearby wall. "She cried for you while choking on her own blood! But where were you!"

Baird couldn't even bare to look upon her librarian anymore. All she could do was close her eyes and take the verbal barrage. Each like a hammer blow to Baird's heart and soul. She could no longer speak, but in her head she was begging for Flynn to stop.

But the librarian seemed to have no intention of stopping.

"And Jones." Flynn was inches away from Baird now. "With Stone and Cass dead, he didn't even try to run. He just stood there as his neck was snapped like a twig."

Make it stop… make it stop… make it stop… Those three words were all Baird's mind seemed capable of thinking anymore. She would do anything to make it so.

At some point, Baird hadn't a clue when, she'd drawn her gun. Feeling the familiar weight in her hand, Baird's gaze turned down to the weapon.

"Good idea." Flynn smiled, a twisted and mocking thing. "You're nothing more than a waste of life. There's no point in going on anymore. Just end it."

Baird slowly raised the gun…

And promptly fired a bullet straight into Flynn.

Flynn stumbled backward, coughing up blood and clutching his chest. His eyes looked at Baird in alarm. "E… Eve…"

"SHUT UP!" Baird roared, firing a second round into Flynn. The librarian was knocked back another few steps, but remained on his feet.

"Why…"

"YOU'RE NOT FLYNN!" Baird had never yelled so loud in her life.

"E…"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Bang, another shot.

Baird's entire body was shaking violently, but she managed to keep the gun level with 'Flynn'. All the words he had been forcing her to hear tore through her brain like a sick music track. Only now it no longer fueled her grief, it powered her anger.

"YOU'RE NOT FLYNN!" Baird repeated, with even more force.

'Flynn' said not a word more, instead he held tightly to his chest as the blood spread across his suit from the two bullet wounds. His eyes never left Baird, the sight of those orbs always brought great comfort to Baird. Now they summoned forth nothing but pure rage.

"You wouldn't be here saying this to me!" Now it was Baird's turn to advance on 'Flynn'. "You'd be crying your eyes out over them!" Bang. "I'd have to pull you away and tell you it was going to be alright!"

"Our family!" Bang.

"Our boys!" Bang.

"Our son!" Bang.

"Our little girl!" Bang.

Baird had pulled the trigger until all she could hear was the repeated click of an empty magazine. Even so, it took many pulls before Baird was able to register it was empty in the first place.

"YOU'RE NOT FLYNN!" Baird yelled for the third time. "THIS… ISN'T… REAL!"

The instant those three words left her lips, the world froze. Before Baird's very eyes, everything around her began to crack before shattering like glass. Leaving nothing but a black void around the guardian.

Before she could do anymore, Baird once again felt herself falling.

* * *

"Miss Cillian?" The voice snapped Cassandra from her daze.

"I'm sorry?" Cassandra shook her head to clear some of the cobwebs away. She must have been daydreaming again.

"It's alright, many have to take time to process when given bad news." With a little of her focus returning, Cassandra noticed that the speaker was a doctor. The redhead was seated in his office.

When did she get here? Last thing she remembered… was nothing. It was like a blank spot had appeared in her mind.

"I must have nodded off a little there." Cassandra smiled nervously. "What were you saying?"

The doctor, an aging bald man with glasses, gave a warm smile. "As I said, it's quite alright." That smile instantly faded. "I'm afraid we were saying your condition has worsened."

Cassandra felt her blood run cold. "How… how bad?"

"We originally thought you had years still, but after the latest batch of tests we had to revise the timetable." The doctor explained as he produced several charts and x-rays.

Cassandra could feel the bile rising in her throat as she looked over the documents. Her tumor had grown, several times larger in fact. Any day now she was going to start losing functionality, the headaches and nosebleeds would grow in intensity as well.

"How long?" Cassandra couldn't hide the shake of her voice.

"A month at most." The doctor delivered the news as gently as one in his profession could.

Cassandra in that instant felt her world come crashing down. No… this couldn't be the end! Not now!

"Is there anyone you would like to call?" The doctor asked softly.

"N… no. I think I need some air." Cassandra sniffled quietly as she rose to her feet.

Something about what the doctor said reminded Cassandra about something. Why was she alone? The others never let her go to these appointments by herself. They were a slightly regular occurrence, but at least one of them always accompanied her.

Ezekiel would complain about nothing valuable to steal or that the place was boring and too quiet, but Cassandra could see his attempts at distracting her a mile away.

Stone would make some small talk, but his presence always did more for her mental state than any words ever could. It was his presence she valued the most.

Then there was Baird… she would regale the redhead with embarrassing stories from her time in the military. Things Cassandra knew the guardian hadn't told anyone else.

Even Flynn had come with her sometimes, whenever he by coincidence appeared in the Library. The eldest librarian would treat it like an adventure. Often times, like Baird, he would tell her stories about his time as the only librarian. They were always so fascinating to hear.

So why was Cassandra all alone now when she needed the people the most?

Whatever the doctor said as Cassandra made her exit went in one ear and out the other. She found herself aimlessly wandering among the halls of the hospital. All she could think about was that the time had come.

She was ready, Cassandra had repeated that to herself more times than she could count. And before joining the Library, she had very much been ready. But now…

Cassandra wasn't ready, not even close. She didn't want to die, she wanted to live! Life wasn't fair, wasn't meant to be, but it couldn't do this to her now. She finally had a place she felt she belonged, a family who actually cared for her. And maybe someone she could see herself…

At some point in her wanderings, Cassandra had found herself on the roof.

Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, Cassandra let her eyes be drawn to the sunset. It was quite a pretty sight to lift her spirits just a little. If Jake were here, he would appreciate the beauty of it a lot more than her. 'Sunsets are paintings made by nature in the sky', he had once told her.

Thinking about Jake made that feeling in the pit of her stomach even worse.

They would respect her wishes, Jake and the others. If Cassandra wanted her… final day, to be now, they would accept it. There would be a lot of attempts to talk her out of it, but they would allow her that freedom. And if she didn't want to bring a speedy end to her torment, they would be with her every step of the way. Even as her body and mind degraded, they would be right there holding her hand right up until the end as she died in her bed. Unable to even recognize them or herself anymore.

It was a vain hope she knew. That after learning magic was real, Cassandra could find something, anything, to save herself. Maybe even something to just give her more time.

Pulling out her phone, Cassandra briefly considered calling the others. How would they react to learning she had less than a month to live?

Ezekiel would find some way to joke it off. But that was his way, jokes and distractions to keep her occupied or entertained. Something Cassandra only now understood the true value of.

Baird and Flynn both, having lost people before, would take it. They would be greatly upset, but would find a way to push past it. Even if it was for Cassandra's sake, they would do anything in her power to make the last month count.

Jake… Jake would be beyond devastated. Cassandra wouldn't be at all surprised if he went on some personal quest across the entire world or the whole Library to find something they could use to save her. Even though he always preached the danger of using magic, part of Cassandra wondered if he would go that far to save her. Would he use what he always warned against?

He would… Cassandra knew that.

The phone in her hand fell to the rocks at her feet with a soft thud. Calling the others would be pointless, she was at the end of the road whether she liked it or not.

Closing her eyes, Cassandra weighed her options. She only had the month, nothing could extend that, but what could she do? Any time now she was going to start losing herself, and that terrified her more than almost anything.

Gazing out across the horizon, Cassandra couldn't help make the comparison to her own life. This was her own sunset. She got to have a beautiful life for a time, but like the setting sun, it was her time to disappear.

It suddenly dawned on Cassandra that she was standing right on the edge of the roof. Only an inch or two separated her feet from the empty air of a several story fall.

Cassandra was deeply ashamed of it, but she considered jumping. It wouldn't be fair to the others to make them suffer through her final days, for that is exactly what she would do to them, make them suffer for her own sake.

The tumor had caused enough problems for the librarians, she had caused enough problems. It might be difficult at first, but they would adapt. They would move on without her, maybe even for the better.

"Goodbye." Cassandra whispered as she stepped over the edge.

She was less than an inch away from falling when Cassandra stopped her foot.

How could she be so selfish? Just leaving all the people she loved without any goodbye? Letting them discover she'd fallen to her death… no, she couldn't do that to them. She couldn't do that to Jake.

Wait… Jake… something didn't add up.

Cassandra had come to her appointment alone, yet didn't remember the drive. Of all the people who kept her company for these appointments, Jake did it the most often. The only times he didn't was when something physically stopped him, or he let one of the others go in his place for their sake. He even skipped a new art discovery once just so he could keep her company. Ezekiel joked hell would freeze over before Jake missed such a thing!

Stepping away from the edge, there was a sound like breaking glass as the world fell away. Cassandra felt the ground at her feet vanish and before she knew it she was falling, but into an empty void instead of to the ground.

* * *

 **This was supposed to be a one-shot, but I underestimated it. The words just flowed a lot more easily than I expected, so it's going to be a two-shot instead. This one is Baird and Cassandra, while the next will be Jones and Stone.**

 **Reviews would be greatly appreciated, thank you.**


	2. Stone

**Here we go, Stone's nightmare. This was supposed to share a chapter with Ezekiel, but as I wrote it the thing became large enough to be its own deal. I also thought pretty hard about it, and I don't know how many chapters this will be. I may go longer than I originally planned, the reception for this has been that good. Honestly, it's not often I get nine (at the time of this writing) reviews out of a single chapter.**

 **Alexis- By all means leave an essay length review. Longer reviews are always some of the best to read. I once wrote a several chapter story over in Evil Within that only had a single reviewer. But each of Beckon's reviews were several paragraphs long. It wouldn't have been written without them.**

 **Okay, seriously, I have to warn you all about this chapter. I mean it, it is not going to be pretty. Our librarians are going to be broken gibbering wrecks by the time this story reaches its final pages. I often feel like I write tragedy and suffering better than most other stuff, and I whip that out here.**

 **So, beware and all that. This will not be a pleasant chapter to read. It makes chapter one look like rainbows and kittens. T should be a high enough rating though.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

"Next time we raid a cursed tomb… we're bringing more firepower!" Jake grunted as he knocked the skeleton away from him. "A lot more!"

"No arguments here!" Baird yelled back from his side as she barely sidestepped a spear thrust. Seizing the weapon from the skeleton's hand, she yanked it free before smacking it upside the head.

"Got that exit yet Cassie?" Jake yelled behind him as he swatted another of the undead creatures into pieces.

"Uh… working on it mate!" Jones was the one to respond, seeing as how their resident mathematician was busy.

Jake and Baird fended off the last of the skeletons, but if the noises down the hall were any indication there were a lot more on the way. If Cassandra didn't figure out which way to go soon, they were going to have to choose at random. Which would then make them risk getting even more lost.

How the hell did this happen anyway? They haven't been this scrambled anywhere since the Labyrinth. Cassandra almost always made sure to keep track, lest they risk another incident like the minotaur. Come to think of it, this was a lot like that! Only with a whole gaggle of bad guys instead of one. At least these went down fairy easily. The slightest hit anywhere and bam, pile of inanimate bones.

Wait a second… when did they even come down here? Jake found his memory more than a little fuzzy. It's like something was missing, but he didn't know what.

Whatever, that would have to be figured out later once they were safe.

Now that they had a lull in the action, Jake took stock of their surroundings. They were stuck at another intersection in the catacombs, this one leading to six different paths. Cassandra was busy trying to track in her head all the routes they took, but was having difficulty for some reason. She probably had a migraine interfering with her ability to think. Bad time for one, but such was their luck.

Jones and Cassandra were both unharmed, having stayed completely out of the battle. Jake had taken a few minor hits but nothing he hadn't had before.

A hiss from nearby drew Jake's attention to Baird.

"I'm fine," the guardian snapped just as Jake opened his mouth.

That was when he noticed the blood pouring down her arm.

"Damn it, Baird!" Jake rushed over to examine the injury. Judging by the amount of blood Baird had already lost, she must have gotten the deep cut at the start of their last bout.

Baird, only now seeming to realize the extent she was injured, pulled off her jacket to wrap tightly around the wound. Baird didn't have to say a word, Jake could tell her limb movements were stiff. Not just that, their guardian wasn't quite as steady on her feet. The injury was going to be a problem when the skeletons came back for another round.

"How many rounds you got left?" Jake gestured to Baird's pistol still in its holster.

"Half a clip." Baird drew the weapon and passed it over to her uninjured arm with a scowl of pain. Knowing she was going to be a liability in melee combat, she changed position to stand between Cassandra and Jones.

"Come on, Cassie. We need to…" Jake was cut off by a chorus of growls and creaking bones from in the dark, beyond the illumination of their flashlights.

"Shit!" Jake swore before swiping an axe from the dead skeletons on the floor. "Here they come."

"Got it!" Cassandra squealed.

"Go go go!" Jake roared just as the horde came into view.

Jake caught the first with a swing to its middle, the same attack cleaving through its comrade beside it. With each step backward, Jake swung the heavy axe into the monsters. Before long he was able to bring enough down that they tripped over their own fallen, giving the librarian a chance to retreat alongside his coworkers.

Having lost sight of the others during their flight, Jake followed them into the tunnel they disappeared into. At first he was met with nothing but more darkness, with no sign of them. Jake couldn't even tell how far he had ran, let alone everyone else.

A crack of a gunshot sounded up ahead.

"Baird!" Jake called out as he ran as fast as he could to catch up.

Jake arrived into another room just in time to see Baird shoot another skeleton directly in the sternum at point blank range. A second came up behind it, but Baird's gun clicked empty. Instead, the guardian once more dodged its attack and grabbed it by the skull. Slamming it back first into the stone wall, it crumpled into a heap on the floor.

"Come on, we gotta…" Jake pushed Cassandra and Jones along, but Baird suddenly dropped to her knees gasping in pain. More fresh blood ran down her side and onto the floor.

At first Jake thought it was the same wound on her arm having just dripped down, but it was on the opposite side. Jake had only thought she'd managed to dodge that last thrust, the blade had torn clear through the flesh of her side.

Swearing under his breath, Jake bolted over to take one of Baird's arms across his shoulders. Jones having done the same with her other before anyone could say a word.

"One… two… three." Jake and Jones each took Baird's weight and lifted her back to her feet. Blood loss was going to be a huge issue soon, but if they couldn't worry about it with an army of skeletons hot on their heels.

They didn't even make it one step.

A hidden door, one that definitely hadn't been there a second ago, suddenly opened up behind the trio. A skeleton shot out and snatched Baird beneath the arms. Jake was able to hold on, but Jones took a fist to the face when the skeleton appeared, knocking him to the floor in a daze.

In the blink of an eye, Baird was already pulled part way through the hidden door. Jake pulled with all he had, but it wasn't enough. Even with their guardian putting up one hell of a struggle on her own.

"Eve!" Cassandra screamed, running over and taking hold of the arm Jones had lost.

Both Librarians pulled with all their might against the strength of the monster. But their muscles were only human, the skeleton's strength enhanced by magic. Even after all their struggle, it was able to pull Baird free from their grip and into the hole. Knocking Cassandra and Jake down in the process.

"Baird!" Jake tried one final attempt to grab hold of their guardian just before she was out of reach, but he missed by mere inches. "Baird!"

After she was out of sight, Jake could still hear the sound of Baird's struggles against the creature. Until they were abruptly silenced right after a sickening crack, followed by the sound of something ripping.

"She… she… she…" Cassandra could only babble and stare at the passageway Baird disappeared into, features filled with complete shock and terror.

Jake slammed a fist into the wall and let loose every swear word he could think of, but he knew they had to go. As much as he didn't want to leave Baird, there was nothing they could do. If they didn't get moving, they were going to share her fate.

"Cassie come on." Jake pulled Cassandra back to her feet with a hand on her arm. But she continued to ramble on until Jake shook her, a little rougher than he really would have liked. "We need to go."

"R… right." Cassandra stuttered, seemingly snapped out of her daze. "Ezekiel?"

"Still here." Jones groaned, stumbling to his feet. He was still dazed, but at least he could move.

"This way." Jake pushed both of his fellow librarians on once more before something else could sneak out and attack them.

Hall after hall they came upon, the monotony only broken by a room every once in a while. So far there were no other surprise ambushes. They may have even lost the army of the dead behind them, but Jake wasn't the optimistic.

It was hard to believe Baird was gone… it was taking everything Jake had to keep going. If not for his protectiveness over the other two, chances were pretty good he'd have broken down like Cassandra did. But there would be a time for morning later, right now he needed to get these two out of…

"Stone look out!" Jones shoved Jake out of the way, knocking him face first into the floor.

Jake rolled onto his back, recovering quickly, just in time to see Jones be skewered by a skeleton wielding spear emerging from another hidden passage. The thief's last act had been to both knock Jake out of the way, and throw himself in front of Cassandra. If he hadn't, the redhead would have been run through instead.

Cassandra could only stand there in shock and horror as the skeleton tore the weapon free and shoved the slain librarian to the floor at their feet.

"JONES!" Jake screamed as he crashed into the thing in a dead sprint. While Jake wrestled with the skeleton, Cassandra rushed to Jones' side to help him.

Jake however knew better. The boy was already gone, just like Baird. Jake was supposed to look out for these people, and he failed two of them in a row!

This skeleton was not taken down so easily, it wrestled the librarian off of him and to the floor. Landing a solid punch to Jake's face, followed by another and another.

The skeleton would have beaten him to death right then and there, had Cassandra not taken the weapon it dropped and drove it through its ribcage. Now free, Jake ripped off one of the bony arms and proceeded to beat the thing until it finally stopped moving.

"Jones?" Jake wheezed as he wiped his bloody nose on the back of his sleeve.

Cassandra just shook her head, trembling and looking more afraid than Jake had ever seen her. The redhead was a single hair away from crumbling like a house of cards.

Taking Cassandra by the hand, Jake pulled her along. He didn't even bother trying to hide his choked-up voice anymore. "We… we have to go. They'd want us to keep moving."

Cassandra, still unable to even speak, squeezed his hand so tightly it was turning white. Jake really didn't care, if it made her feel the least bit better, he would happily suffer for a while.

No matter what happened, Jake had to get Cassandra out of here. Though she was on borrowed time, he was going to make sure she got to live every second of it. Even if he had to die to make it so.

Seconds blended into minutes, minutes blended into hours. Yet they still found no sign of an exit, or even anymore turns. They had been going in a straight line this whole time, no crypt could be this large. It made the catacombs beneath Paris look like a three-grave family cemetery by comparison.

Surely Cassandra would have noticed this too, maybe even offered an opinion, but the redhead seemed to have gone catatonic. She was able to run, and still seemed aware of where they were, but that was it. Seeing the adamantly cheerful and carefree Cassandra so utterly broken was more horrifying than the undead legion they were running from.

Come to think of it… where did the skeletons all go? They hadn't been attacked in a while, making Jake wonder when the next surprise was going to pop out of the walls.

Exactly as Jake envisioned, another passageway opened up beside him. The skeleton that leaped out got a surprise in the form of an angry Jake Stone's fist straight to its skull. Its remains fell back, knocking into another that was trying to climb out sending both plummeting wherever they came from.

"JAKE!" Cassandra let loose a blood curdling scream from Jake's blindside.

Jake turned just in time to see a skeleton pin Cassandra to the wall with an arm to her throat, just before it drove a knife into her stomach. The redhead screamed as the metal pierced her flesh, but the skeleton wasn't done. In the time it took for Jake to rush to her aid, it had stabbed her several more times. Cassandra's flowery dress becoming stained crimson with her own blood.

Jake thought he knew fear, thought he knew horror. Now he truly knew how those felt as he pulled the monster away from Cassandra, the woman sliding to the floor clutching her stomach. The blood flowing freely past her lithe fingers.

Jake wasted no time in smashing the skeleton into the wall like he had seen Baird do earlier.

"J… Jake?" Cassandra sobbed as she looked from her abdomen up to Jake then back. "It hurts…"

"Oh darlin'..." Jake forced his voice to remain steady as he dropped to one knee. Frantically he ripped off his jacket and moved her fingers so he could press it to the wounds. Replacing Cassandra's fingers, he put his own over top of hers in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "Keep this on here."

"Jake…"

"Shh… don't talk. You're going to be okay, alright? You're going to be okay." Jake knew lies when he heard them, but right now they were all he had. "We'll get you back to the Library, have Jenkins get you all fixed up okay?"

"O… okay." Cassandra whimpered, a trickle of blood running from the corner of her mouth while tears ran rivers down her cheeks. A fit of coughs tore through her body making her moan in agony.

There was nothing Jake could do, the bleeding just wouldn't stop. His jacket became soaked through unnaturally fast, and the flow showed no signs of slowing.

Cassandra was dying right here in Jake's arms, and there wasn't a damn thing Jake could do to stop it.

It was something that loomed over all of their heads, their favorite redhead already had a limited number of days. But it's one thing to know about it, it's another to have it actually in front of your very eyes.

You can no longer deny it.

Cassandra wasn't even getting to live her life! She was going to bleed out in some dark tomb in the middle of nowhere. The very least Jake could do was be with her for these final moments.

"Jake… …" Cassandra croaked out, her voice already sounding delirious from blood loss. "I need… to tell you something."

"Cassie…" Jake began but was silenced by Cassandra bringing one of her bloody hands up to cup his cheek.

"I always… wanted more time…" Cassandra wheezed. "But… I didn't regret anything… until after I joined the Library…" The redhead was overtaken by another brutal round of coughing. "I regret…"

"Y… yeah?" Jake could feel tears welling up in his own eyes now.

"I regret…" Cassandra's blue eyes slowly drifted closed, her hand falling from Jake's cheek to sit limply at her side.

"Cassie?"

No response.

"Cassie?" Jake repeated a little more forcefully.

Still no response.

"Cassie… don't go…" Jake begged as he gently took the hand that had been on his cheek into both of his own. "Please…"

Jake's pleas were upon deaf ears, Cassandra was already gone.

Pressing Cassandra's hand back to his cheek, Jake leaned forward and rested his forehead on her shoulder. Only then did he allow his own tears to fall.

Baird was gone, Jones was gone, now Cassandra was gone. Most of the people Jake had left he genuinely cared about, snuffed out in a single day. Leaving only him as the last survivor.

Staring at Cassandra's lifeless body, Jake could only imagine. All things that went unsaid, all that were said. The things they had all done, the things they had yet to do. All of it played in Jake's mind like a twisted home movie.

It was almost a blessing when Jake began to hear the approaching chorus of the skeletal monsters. They must have finally caught back up.

"About time." Jake smiled, but there was no humor or merriment in it. This was one of bitterness, one of a broken soul. "Let's get this over with."

Jake was content to just sit there and wait. Before long, the skeletons would happen upon him and put him out of his misery. At least then he could join the others wherever they went. He didn't know what the afterlife looked like, but if Cassandra was there waiting for him alongside the others, he couldn't wait to see it.

Taking a deep breath, Jake relaxed and awaited his fate…

Wait a minute… what the hell was he thinking?!

Jake's eyes snapped open and down at the lifeless Cassandra. How could he possibly do something so selfish? Just sitting back and letting death take him would be an insult to Cassandra's memory, an insult to everyone he loved.

Sitting up, Jake placed a soft delicate kiss on Cassandra's forehead. "No, I won't go quietly into that dark night."

Searching around the room, Jake quickly found a rusty discarded sword. Yes, it would do nicely. Taking up the weapon, Jake moved to stand before Cassandra's body with the weapon raised and ready.

Wasn't long before they came into view. Dozens of skeletons, and that was just what Jake could see with his limited light. Many more were sitting in the back, in the shadows.

"You take my friends, you take my family." Jake roared at the top of his lungs. "You want me too? Well come and get it!"

With a yell that shook the very catacombs around him, Jake charged.

On the third step, the floor vanished from beneath Jake. At first, he thought it was another secret passage, but the world around him soon faded away into a black void.

All Jake could register was that he was falling.

* * *

 **I don't think I've written something that depressing since The Last Bullet over on Fallout 4. Regardless, I'm glad that's over. Ezekiel's chapter will be next. It probably won't be so bad, but won't be any more pleasant.**

 **Bonus points to whoever can figure out exactly what each character fears.**

 **Leave a review so I know how I'm doing. They make any amount of effort more than worthwhile.**


	3. Ezekiel

**This took me a lot longer than the other chapters. For the life of me, I just couldn't pin down what Ezekiel Jones would truly fear. The others were a lot easier than this guy! Hopefully, this chapter will be up to my usual standards thus far.**

 **Seriously, I didn't expect the reception this story would receive. I think it's getting the best reviews/views of any Librarians work I've done thus far. Thank you all so very much.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

"Jones!"

"Huh?"

"Jones, snap out of it!" Stone whacked Ezekiel in the shoulder none too gently, but that did get the young thief to focus.

"What?"

"Come on, we need to hurry." Stone pulled Ezekiel along the hall. "Baird's running out of time."

That got Ezekiel's attention.

Something was wrong though, where were they? It was some kind of underground base, much like the one they encountered the werewolves in. At least this time, it seemed devoid of life save Stone and Ezekiel himself. He'd had enough werewolves for a lifetime thank you very much.

When did they get to an underground base? Weren't they just… Ezekiel found his memory foggy. They had been somewhere else a moment ago, hadn't they?

Eh, problem to be figured out later. From what Stone was saying, Baird was in trouble. As soon as they bailed their guardian out, they could figure out the where and why.

"Through here." Stone shouldered the heavy metal door but it didn't budge. "Dammit! It's locked."

"Outta the way." Ezekiel shoved Stone aside to get to the access panel. The security on the door was almost laughable, it was so easy to breach. Ezekiel had the door open in less than ten seconds.

Shoving open the unlocked door, the two men charged into the room.

"About time, get me out of this thing!" Baird yelled from the cage she was in, suspended over a pit. Ezekiel peered over the edge to see a giant pool of water below.

Seriously? What was there sharks down there or something? Could you get any more like some cheesy spy movie? Who the hell thought this up?

"Jones!"

"Right, on it." Ezekiel first tried to pick the lock on the cage but that was to no avail. First, he broke his lockpick, followed by his backup, then his extra backup. He hadn't broken one in years!

"Oh, for crying out loud." Ezekiel groaned.

Right then, alarms began to blare. Baird's cage suddenly shook violently.

"Ooh that's not good." Baird looked up at the ceiling, specifically to the chain and pulley connected to the top of her prison. "Umm… can we you know, double-time it?"

"Screw this." Ezekiel abandoned the lock in favor of the bank of computers nearby. The lock seemed unpickable, so he was going to have to hack it instead. At the very least he would be able to stop the cage from dropping. Buy them more time at absolute worst.

Stone didn't say a word, the librarian stood at Ezekiel's side watching him work. The data flashed across the screen so fast, Stone wouldn't have been able to comprehend it anyway. He might be smart in his own way, but Ezekiel Jones was in his element now. There was no lock he couldn't pick, no security he couldn't bypass, no computer he couldn't hack.

Right up until the moment Ezekiel realized there was nothing he could do.

Ezekiel pulled out all the stops, every single trick up his sleeve. Nothing worked, the system just wouldn't respond. This was impossible! The computer's security wasn't even all that advanced, bloody hell, a bank in some rural hick town would have better security!

So, why the hell wasn't this working!

"Ezekiel!" Baird's cage rocked again. "How's it coming?"

"Working on it!" Ezekiel called back as he tried another idea. Again, to no avail.

"Ezekiel…"

"I said I'm working on it, Baird."

"Ezekiel, look at me."

It took considerable effort for Ezekiel to look up from the screen to face Baird. When he did, he was surprised at the fond look and smile the guardian bore. "Just take a breath, you got this, okay?"

"Y… yeah." Ezekiel was dumbstruck for a moment. Nobody had ever given him that look before, not even when he was growing up. He never realized how much he wished to see it. "Just hang on, I'll get you out of there, mom."

It took Ezekiel a moment before he realized his own slip of the tongue, but nobody made any mention of it. Stone made not a peep, and Baird still held that soft maternal look.

Ezekiel Jones was a master thief. He could do this, he could do this. Those four words he repeated until they were his entire focus. Just a little longer and he'll have Baird home free…

That was when the cage dropped.

The former NATO colonel didn't scream, just swore loudly as the cage came loose and dropped like a lead weight into the water below.

"Baird!" Stone rushed over to the edge of the water right alongside Ezekiel. The cage was already submerged, but was still connected by the chain.

If he could climb down that chain, Ezekiel still had a chance to get the lock open. He could still both free Baird, and save her life. Ezekiel didn't much like the idea of trying to bypass an underwater lock, but oh well, he'd done crazier.

Ezekiel was seconds from jumping across to grab the chain when the entire base began shaking wildly. So much so, that Stone would have fallen into the watery pit if Ezekiel hadn't managed to grab him in time and jerk him back.

"SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED." A mechanical voice echoed.

Ezekiel let loose every swear word he knew. He was going to have to make this fast then.

Ezekiel had just taken a step back for a running jump when Stone grabbed him by the arm and roughly pulled him from the room. "Stone! What are you doing? We have to…

"Get out of here." Stone cut him off. "This place is gonna blow."

"But Baird…"

"Is gone." Stone snapped. "We can die with her, or save our own skins."

"No way!" Ezekiel implored, even as Stone dragged him away by the arm. "We can still save her!"

Stone said no more. Ezekiel always knew the older man could easily outmuscle him but they'd never had to prove it before. He was certainly proving it now, even as they passed the threshold of the back door, Ezekiel had to be dragged literally kicking and screaming.

Only when they were through, did Stone release Ezekiel. When he did, the thief was roughly shoved against the annex table while Stone slammed the door shut.

"There you guys are." Cassandra dashed down the stairs, smile instantly fading when she saw how many were there. "Where's Baird?"

"She's…" Ezekiel tried to answer, but his voice caught in his throat. It finally started to set in just what happened.

"Baird's dead." Stone snapped, up until now he had been facing the closed back door. When he turned, Ezekiel found all Stone's fury directed at him. "And it's all his fault."

"Hey!" Ezekiel for a moment was able to force down his own feelings. "I tried everything I could!"

"I'm Ezekiel Jones." Stone began in a surprisingly good imitation of Ezekiel's own voice. "Master thief, I can get into anything. No security in the world can stop me."

Stone and Ezekiel had their differences, they argued more than agreed, but there was always a grudging respect for each other's skills. There was simply things one man could do that the other could not, Ezekiel had to respect that. And when it came down to it, both could trust the other to get the job done.

Now though, it was like a switch had been flipped in Stone. Never before had Ezekiel seen so much anger, so much fury in Stone's eyes. All of that directed right at Ezekiel.

"I tried everything!" Ezekiel defended himself. "I didn't see you doing anything!"

"I'm not the one Baird trusted to save her!" Stone roared. "You let her die!"

"You… don't actually think that, do you?" Ezekiel felt his stomach twisting into knots. Not like he didn't feel bad enough, did Stone really have to try to make it worse? "Cassie?"

Cassandra had been silent thus far. When Ezekiel turned to look at the redhead, she was facing away. He couldn't see her face, but with the sound of sniffles it was easy to tell she was crying. Naturally she would take Baird's death pretty hard.

When Ezekiel turned his gaze back to Stone, he had just enough time to blink once before Stone had crossed the distance and grabbed him by the shirt. "Whoa hey!"

"You let her die!" Stone snarled in Ezekiel's face shoving him back against the table, his grip unrelenting. For all their arguments, the two men never actually struck one another. Right now, Ezekiel felt Stone was right at the cusp of punching him.

The man very well might have, if not for the whoosh of the back-door opening. Three pairs of eyes turned to face the open door. It appeared to lead into a decrepit alleyway in some city.

"Ah. Good idea Ray." Stone smiled, a look Ezekiel found deeply disturbing. "The Library doesn't even want you, Jones."

"What?" Ezekiel was dumbstruck, they weren't about to kick him out… were they? Could they actually do that to a librarian?

With an iron grip on Ezekiel's shirt, Stone roughly pulled Ezekiel to the doorway. "Hey, come on Stone! Don't do this." Stone wasn't even listening, that much was plain as day. Time for another tactic. "Cassandra!"

To Ezekiel's horror, the third librarian was now facing him. The tears still ran down her face, but the look of rage on Cassandra's face was a perfect match to Stone's. Sure, Ezekiel had seen Stone angry at him before, he'd even did it on purpose to tease the man, but that look on Cassandra was completely alien. Ezekiel had never seen Cassandra remotely this furious before. It was such a shock, Ezekiel didn't even have the will to resist when Stone roughly threw him through the door.

"And good riddance, you were a disgrace to the library." Stone growled as he shut the door.

Ezekiel was back to his feet in seconds, rushing to the now closed door. Upon opening it, all he found was some garage. No Library, no Cassandra, and no Stone.

Ignoring the growing feeling of terror, Ezekiel found a spot against the nearby wall and took a seat. This was a joke they were playing on him. Everyone was upset upon losing Baird, and the others needed a way to vent. Naturally, they would choose Ezekiel as the target for their cruel little prank. This was fine, if they needed to do it to cope, he would take it.

All Ezekiel had to do was wait until they came back for him. Might take a little while, but Ezekiel was nothing if not patient. As soon as they reopened the door, they would pull him back in and everyone would have a laugh at Ezekiel Jones' expense, then they could grieve for their fallen then.

As the time passed, Ezekiel couldn't get that look on Baird out of his mind. It was like it had been magically burned into his memory, no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't leave. She had been so sure of him, had so much faith in him, and he'd let her down…

The one woman in Ezekiel's life he felt deserving of the title mother… and she was gone because of him, because he hadn't been good enough to save her.

Hour after hour passed, but there was no sign of the back-door returning. Ezekiel had taken to beating against the metal, screaming for his friends to come back for him. Yelling he would do anything, be anything they wanted. Eventually, the hellish realization set in.

They were not coming back for him.

Something inside Ezekiel's mind snapped. Between losing Baird, and being thrown out of the only real home he'd ever known, his mind couldn't take it.

Ezekiel made his way out of the alley, his steps slow and uncoordinated. Had anyone acknowledged his presence, which they didn't, they might have assumed him to be intoxicated.

Stumbling along the street, Ezekiel was at a loss what to do. He'd been banished from the library, he had no family, and now no friends left. Even for a narcissistic thief, what more was there to Ezekiel Jones? He was just another speck of dust on the shelf. There wasn't even any reason to keep going now was there?

Just then, Ezekiel happened to glance up to see the traffic passing by. The sight gave the thief more than a few ideas of how to solve his current dilemma. Yes… this would be perfect.

Stepping up to the curb, Ezekiel watched as the cars zoomed by, surprisingly fast for a city street. Nobody tried to stop him, nobody so much as whispered about the guy standing too close to the street. Just as Ezekiel thought, he was beneath anyone's notice now.

Sucking in a deep breath, Ezekiel stepped forward.

Then immediately stopped.

Something was wrong… no, something was extremely wrong. Stone wouldn't have thrown him out of the library like that, even if he wanted to, he would have actually done it. Not to mention Cassandra wouldn't have allowed it, she may not be the most physical, but she would make an exception for any one of them. She'd have tried to wrestle Stone to stop him if she had to.

Something must have happened. There was that period Ezekiel couldn't remember before Stone found him, right before they lost Baird. Then where was Cassandra during that whole time? She would have refused to remain behind at the Library.

What if they were possessed? Or… or… if somebody was impersonating them? Maybe one of the worst crimes of all… bodysnatching!

Ezekiel jumped back from the curb so fast he almost knocked several people over. But he really didn't care in the slightest. He had planning to do.

Okay… the back-door was out of the question. That meant he would have to return to Portland the old-fashioned way. First things first, he needed to figure out just which city he was in.

Ezekiel's next step vanished from beneath his foot. One moment he was walking along the street, plan forming to save his friends, the next he was falling into darkness.

* * *

So it was that the crew of the Library faced some of their darkest fears. Each stumbled, each fell, but in the end were able to defeat them and rise once again. They may have been beaten, may have been bloodied and bruised, but they held on and survived.

Unfortunately, the Nightmare Trap was far from done with its prey. Its victims had survived their nightmares yes, but those were only the first wave. More nightmares quickly followed the first. Each different, but each playing on the delicious fear and terror its visions brought.

Baird was faced with the horror of her own failure as guardian. The people she not only swore to protect, the same people who provided something she always wanted but didn't know she did. Cassandra, the daughter she never had, Ezekiel, the son she never had, and Stone, the brother in arms. Baird never got to watch them die, she would always come upon their bodies. Sometimes immediately after death, other times long after. But it was always the same, they would be gone while she was absent. It was sheer refusal to accept that allowed Baird to cling to life.

Cassandra was faced with the reality her time was going to run out eventually. One day it might grow even shorter, and there would be nothing she could do about it. All of her time with the Library brought a newfound purpose in life to the woman, but she knew deep down one day it would be snuffed out. Once she had been ready, but that position had long since changed. At times, she would face a reduced time of a few months. Other times, she would already be on her deathbed. It was sheer refusal to submit to dark thoughts that allowed Cassandra to cling to life.

Jake was faced with the realization he could not always protect and look after the others. No matter how hard he tried, there will come a day when he cannot save them, and will watch them die. Baird, the protector and dear friend, Ezekiel, the annoying little brother, and Cassandra, the possible future. No matter how short it might be. Every scenario was similar, Jake would fight his hardest, but in the end would watch everyone die around him. It was sheer refusal to just quit that allowed Jake to cling to life.

Ezekiel was faced with his own deeply held fear of abandonment, that he would lose those dearest to him simply because he failed. Sometimes it would be Baird he would lose, the mother he never had but always wanted. Other times he would fail to save his older brother, Stone. Sometimes he couldn't save his big sister Cassandra. One thing always remained the same, the others would throw him away because of his failure. It was sheer refusal to believe the others turning on him that allowed Ezekiel to cling to life.

Round after round, nightmare after nightmare, the crew of the library were tormented and tortured. Piece by piece their sanity cracked, their mind's broke.

The fun had only just begun.

* * *

 **Wow, once I started this turned out to be easier to write than I thought. I am so glad to be done with Ezekiel's chapter, this one just took me forever to figure out. Even so, I'm not sure I managed to nail it. Next chapter won't be quite as dark, maybe.**

 **Leave a review please, you guys who leave long ones are the best ever!**


	4. Rescue

**Hmm… evidently that last chapter was pretty bad judging by the number of reviews. To make matters worse, I am behind on almost all of my work. Near dead inspiration does that. Especially with the season over, I need to just get this story done so it is no longer hanging over my head.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Time was a funny thing to an immortal like Jenkins. Hours, days, even years, meant next to nothing. There would always be more. Patience was no longer a virtue, merely a fact of life.

Being immortal did not make one immune to emotions though. Such as the spike of fear that tore through Jenkins when the phone call with Colonel Baird cut out. Never before in all his many centuries, did Jenkins sprint out of the Library so fast.

If he could arrive in time, there was a minuscule chance Jenkins could save at least one of them. Chances were they were all already dead, but the elder knight forced himself to remain optimistic. He could save at least one, this was what Jenkins' mind latched onto, but only if he was quick enough.

Thank all the stars above he'd been able to convince Baird it was best to wait for morning. Today's job was the simplest ever, retrieving an old artifact from a temple in South America. No deranged natives guarding it, no racing against the clock, just a simple walk in and grab it.

At least, that was how it was supposed to go.

The Librarians and their guardian had a half an hour head start. That was how long it took them to reach the temple. Cassandra had vividly described it, and shown Jenkins her map, when they returned the previous evening. If they had not followed Jenkins suggestion to wait for the evening, then he would have never known where to find them.

It took the Librarians thirty minutes to hike to the temple, Jenkins accomplished it in a ten-minute sprint.

Fortunately, it was a simple building. Two rooms at the top of a steep flight of stairs built into the cliff side. Jenkins wouldn't have had the time to search an entire complex.

Storming into the ritual chamber, Jenkins found his quarry.

The entire room was covered in a luminescent pink smoke, multiple tendrils seemed to writhe and twist about like a snake. An inaudible whispering voice echoed off the surrounding stones giving an otherworldly aura.

To Jenkins extreme shock, not one, not two, but all four of his coworkers were still among the living.

Cassandra sat in a nearby corner, sobbing uncontrollably while clutching her knees to her chest. She was saying something, but her cries were making it impossible to understand clearly.

"It's going to be fine." Stone was kneeling on the far wall, whatever or whoever he was talking to invisible to everyone save him. Stone's back was to Jenkins, but it seemed he was trying to tend to injuries on a person who wasn't there.

Jones was doing something with his hands, either picking a lock or hacking a computer, but he was doing it to dead air. The youngest Librarian said nothing, but Jenkins could see the panic and terror on his face.

"This isn't real, they're not gone…" Baird whimpered from nearby. The guardian clutched her head in her hands as she repeated the words again and again. Each one sounding more broken than the last.

There, in the center of the chamber, stood the accursed idol. It was a small thing, barely five inches tall and made of a dark wood. Its entire surface covered in carved images of screaming faces. The smoke in the air appeared to be emanating from the foul thing.

Jenkins was about to make a move for the altar when the whispering grew in intensity. He had just enough time to blink, before a tendril of smoke slammed straight into his stomach. It was like the blow of a hammer to Jenkins, knocking the breath from his lungs, even shoving him back several feet.

But that was all it did. Whatever the effect was supposed to be, it didn't work. The whispering was still unclear, but the tone indicated disbelief.

Jenkins recovered quickly, then made a frantic dash for the altar. Another column of smoke tried to sweep at him, but he ducked beneath it. Just as Jenkins reached the altar, the smoke solidified around his ankles and hurled him across the room.

The retaliation came too late, Jenkins had already snatched the idol. The whispering voice erupted into full blown screaming as the smoke all poured toward Jenkins before he could even rise from the floor.

Without the slightest hesitation, Jenkins smashed the wooden object beneath his elbow.

If the yelling was loud before, it was deafening now. The entire temple shook with the sheer volume. Undeterred, Jenkins slammed his elbow into the idol again, and again. Ignoring the pain from hitting the stone beneath it, Jenkins struck until there was nothing left but dust and splinters.

Slowly, the voice died off, the fog dissipating.

Even without the magical mist affecting them, the librarians didn't come to instantly. Jenkins needed to get them out of here. He started with Baird, if anyone could help him get the others together, it would be her. He just had to hope she could regain her wits fast enough.

"J… Jenkins?" Baird choked out, sucking in heavy breaths.

"It's alright." Jenkins put a reassuring hand on the woman's back. "Everything is going to be alright, but we need to get you and the others out of here. The sooner the better."

"Others?" Baird's face lit up with alarm. "Ezekiel! Cassandra!"

The aforementioned librarians didn't seem able to hear her, but were slowly coming to. As if waking up from a deep sleep.

"They're fine." Jenkins used his most calming voice as he directed Baird's gaze to her charges. "But we need to get everyone back home."

Seeing that everyone was still breathing seemed enough for Baird. If the guardian could focus on that, she would deal with her own pain later. Such was her way.

Ezekiel had been the easiest to rouse. All Baird had to do was put a hand on him and call his name. The thief all but launched himself at Baird to wrap his arms around the guardian. Jenkins did not miss just how tightly Baird returned the embrace.

Stone took a little more effort. Calling his name didn't seem to work at first, until Jenkins started saying he needed Stone's help with Cassandra. That certainly got his attention, allowing the librarian to take in his surroundings.

Cassandra was a near lost cause. She was still breathing, but was almost completely catatonic. Everyone tried talking to her, calling her name, even gently shaking her. None of it worked, they couldn't even get her to look up, let alone stand.

Cassandra would have to be carried. There was no other way of getting the redhead to move. Jenkins had been about to do it himself, until he noticed just how quick Stone had been to volunteer. Jenkins had more than a few theories about what they had all experienced. It was possible tending to Cassandra might aid in Stone's own recovery. If so, he would never dare refuse Stone this.

It was slow moving back to the door. Jenkins led the group along, but their movements were sluggish and uncoordinated. Baird and Ezekiel clung to each other like their lives depended on it, while Stone carried the petite Cassandra piggyback. Judging from the looks on Baird's face every few moments toward the pair, if Cassandra was walking, the guardian would be keeping her just as close as Ezekiel.

The whole way back, Jenkins couldn't believe his good fortune. He rushed to their rescue expecting to find at best only a single survivor. But all four made it, every single one had the willpower to fight off the nightmares. It actually made Jenkins ashamed for not having more faith in them, he'd woefully underestimated the four.

Upon their return to the Library, Jenkins was relived to find four cots set up in the annex. Once again, the Library was looking out for its protectors. After helping the four to sit, Jenkins went to fetch his tea tray and a few ingredients. They were going to need it.

By the time he got back, Cassandra was at least sitting up on her own. Her eyes still had a far-off look to them, but progress was progress. Baird had released Jones and was sitting on her own cot facing the other three, never letting them out of her sight. Stone was doing the exact same on the opposite side, leaving Cassandra and Jones between the two.

It was a testament to how disturbed they all were that none questioned the drink Jenkins gave them, nor said a thing about the cots the library put up for them.

"Thanks, Jenkins." Baird took a large gulp of the mixture.

"It was no problem, colonel. You're all lucky." Jenkins smiled sadly.

"Not… the word I'd use." Ezekiel shivered.

"No, you're lucky." Jenkins turned serious. "You're not the first to encounter a nightmare trap. Nasty piece of work, the last one didn't end as well as this."

Jenkins knew the moment he said the words he may have made a mistake. Everyone was looking at him for an explanation he didn't really want to give. But it was too late now, the cat was out of the proverbial bag.

"The last recorded encounter with a nightmare trap was about a hundred and fifty years ago." Jenkins began. "I don't know how, but the librarian was able to escape on his own. His guardian was not so fortunate, he… gave in." Jenkins didn't have to spell it out for the others to understand what that meant. "The librarian, Edwin, lasted a week, before he killed himself."

Baird and Stone's eyes instantly shot toward the unresponsive Cassandra. She had drank from the teacup Jenkins had given her, but made no other action. Even Jenkins had to admit he was disturbed by the redhead's lack of her usual cheer and liveliness. Not a single word had passed her lips since she left earlier that day.

"What exactly is the trap supposed to do?" Stone asked, but his eyes didn't leave his female coworker.

"The name is fairly self-explanatory." Jenkins answered. "It takes your worst fears and makes you relive them, again and again. If you make it though, it refreshes the scenario. Scrambling your mind just enough you can't remember what you're facing isn't real. The memories are muddled between nightmares, but not the feelings. Each new one adds on to the pile made by the previous one, the longer you're trapped, the worst it gets."

"It's designed to break you." Stone supplied.

"In the worst ways possible." Jenkins agreed with a solemn nod.

"How long were we gone, Jenkins?" Baird rubbed her temples.

"About forty minutes." Jenkins knew it was a lot longer than that to them. "But to you, it could have easily been months, maybe more."

"Certainly felt like it." Ezekiel contributed as he flopped himself back on the cot.

"You should all get some rest, it's the best thing for you right now. That drink I gave you will make sure you have a dreamless and peaceful sleep." Jenkins moved over to Cassandra and put a hand on her shoulder. The woman was not tense, but limp. How she was even sitting up, Jenkins did not know. At least when Jenkins gently guided her to lay down, she didn't resist. The best he could do for the redhead was to drape the blanket over her petite form.

Baird, ever watchful as ever, refused to even lay down until the other three had done so. Even if she did, Jenkins doubted she would allow herself a moment of sleep. None of them would probably get any actual rest, but Jenkins knew there was no other cure for what they went through other than time.

Sleep was going to come for the four, whether they liked it nor not. Drugging the mixture with a sleeping potion may have been invasive, but it was necessary.

Let their bodies heal on their own, their minds were going to be the real issue.

* * *

 **This was originally going to be longer, but I wanted to let everyone know that no this story was not abandoned. Thankfully, this proved to be long enough to stand alone.**

 **Leave a review and let me know what you all think.**


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